


Fan translation: Tales from the Long Corridor of The Summer Palace

by olanthanide



Category: Chinese History RPF, Chinese Mythology, Three Kingdoms History & Adaptations - All Media Types
Genre: Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-09-28 00:51:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17172716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olanthanide/pseuds/olanthanide
Summary: The Long Corridor at the the Summer Palace in Beijing contains over 10,000 illustrations of scenes from Chinese classical literature, legends, mythology, and folklore. This is a selected collection of their story, often told as excerpts from longer stories that the scenes originally came from.-------------------------------------------------------------Disclaimer:This is translated from: 颐和园长廊画故事集, Editor 辛文生, 中国旅游 Publishing GroupPublished, December, 1983, first edition. This translation is not affiliated with 中国旅游 or 辛文生.  No copyright infringement is intended.免责声明:本翻译的原文来自于颐和园长廊画故事集，辛文生编，中国旅游出版社 1983年12月 第一版 出版。本版翻译跟中国旅游出版社和辛文生毫无关系. 也没有违反任何人的版权意识.





	1. 谋董贼孟德献刀(Caocao's sword)

**Author's Note:**

> There's no beta, only Pleco. May the linguistic gods have mercy on my soul.
> 
> 没有BETA， 只有PLECO。 如果有错的话，只能说明这个铁棒还没有磨成针：请多多包容  
> \--------------------------------------------  
> Story 1, informal summary by the translator:  
> In which 曹操 (Cao Cao) tries his hand at assassination.
> 
> You can view a painting (not the Long Corridor one) of it here:  
> https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%AD%9F%E5%BE%B7%E7%8C%AE%E5%88%80

This is a story from the _Romance of the Three Kingdoms._

董卓(Dong Zhuo) was originally the governor of 西凉(Xiliang)and the head of the state army, with two hundred thousand men under his command. He was both ruthless and cruel, with a traitorous heart. He took advantage of the fight for power between empress’ relatives and eunuchs in the imperial court and marched on the capital city, 洛阳 (Luoyang)。 After entering 洛阳, he disposed of the young emperor, 刘辩(Liu Bian), and installed Prince of 陈留(Chenliu), 刘协 (Liu Xie), as the new 献 (Xian) Emperor, establishing the country of相 (Xiang). The西凉soldiers looted and pillaged the city – no crime was too heinous for them to commit. Many of the remaining loyal court officials had tried all manners of plots to dispose of 董卓, but none were successful. Many were caught by him and killed.

The calvary officer曹操, also called 孟德 (Mengde), was a man from谯郡(Qiaojun), from the Kingdom of沛(Pei). He was politically aware, quick-witted, and had long harbored a desire for 董卓’s demise。He pretended to bow and submit to 董卓, becoming one of 董卓’s deeply trusted officers. As a result, he was often permitted to work in close proximity to 董卓.

One day, 曹操, with his treasured Seven-Star Sword hidden on his person, entered the governor’s residence. Upon entering the private residential area, 曹操saw that 董卓 was seated on the bed, with his adopted son, 吕布 (Lü Bu), standing beside him。 董卓asked him, “ 孟德, why did you arrive so late?” , to which曹操answered, “My horse is lame and can only travel slowly, thus I arrived late.”

When董卓heard this, he ordered 吕布to pick out a high quality西凉horse for 曹操. 吕布, obeying his order, left, at which time 曹操thought, “It’s the time for this thief to die.”

He was about to draw out his sword for the assassination attempt when he thought about how strong 董卓 was, and how he should not move too recklessly. As a result, he decided to stand by and wait.

董卓, who was large and fat, could not sit upright for long periods of time comfortably. After some time has passed, he moved to lay down on the bed, with his face inward towards the wall. When 曹操 saw this, he thought secretly to himself, “Now is the time!”

Hurriedly he drew out his sword, but as he was about to commit the assassination, he did not realize that 董卓 was facing a mirror, and could see him pulling out his sword. Hurriedly, 董卓asked, “孟德, what are you doing?” At this time, 吕布had already arrived outside with the horse and 曹操, quick-witted under pressure, hurriedly knelt and held up his sword, saying, “I have come into my possession this wonderful sword, which I come to offer to the governor today.”

董卓 took and examined the sword, noting that the knife it a good length, embedded with seven different gemstones, and was unusually sharp. It was indeed a blade one would treasure. 董卓passed it to 吕布 for safe keeping as 曹操 hurriedly took off the sword sheath for 吕布.

Then董卓got off the bed and took 曹操outside to look at the chosen horse. After曹操thanked 董卓, he asked for permission to try riding the horse. 董卓had the bridle and saddle brought and fitted. 曹操led the horse out of the governor’s residence, immediately mounted, whipped the horse, and headed off in the towards the southeast.

When 董卓and 吕布had realized what had happened, they ordered people after曹操. However, by that time 曹操had long escaped the city and had vanished without a trace.

 


	2. 文姬谒墓 Wenji at the grave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A summary of the life of Cai Yan (AKA Cai Wenji), who met all the requirements to be a scholar except 1) she was a woman and 2) she was born during a time of political instability.

 

蔡琰(Cai Yan), also called  文姬 (Wenji), was born at the end of the Dong Han (Eastern Han) Dynasty to the literary master and calligrapher 蔡邕(Cai Yong). As a child, she was intelligent and well-educated in many areas, with notable talent for poetry and music. According to the legends, once, when she was very young, she was listening to her father playing the 琴 (qin) when a string on the instrument suddenly broke. She immediately said that it was the second string that broke. When her father looked down, he saw that it was indeed the second string, but thought that it was only a coincidence that his daughter had identified the right one, so did not pay much attention and continued playing. A while later, another string broke, and蔡文姬said it was the fourth string. Her father looked, and saw that it was indeed the fourth string. Thus her father learned of his daughter’s mastery in music, as well as her unusual intelligence, and marveled.

However, 蔡文姬’s life was quite tragic. As a result of offending a powerful court official, her father was executed by the High Minister of Education, 王充 (Wang Chong). She was then married to卫仲道 (Wei Zhongdao) from 江东 (Jiangdong), who died within two years. During the first southern匈奴 (Xiongnu) invasion into the middle plains, 蔡文姬was enslaved by the匈奴and forced to wed their chieftain. From that time onward, she spent 12 whole years living among the匈奴.  

When曹操(Cao Cao) became the prime minister of Han, he settled the situation with乌桓(Wu Huan). After stabilizing the northern borders, he implemented new, more diplomatic foreign policies toward  the匈奴and other northern ethnic groups. He also respected蔡邕 as a scholar, and wanted蔡文姬 to collect and edit 蔡邕’s works. Thus he sent 蔡文姬’s relative,  董祀 (Dong Si), with copious amounts of gold, silver, and various treasures to the匈奴to negotiate, and was able to finally buy back 蔡文姬.

This painting illustrates the scene when 蔡文姬, returning from the匈奴, passed through the outskirts of 长安 (Changan) city to visit her father’s grave. At his graveside, she thought about his tragic death and all that she had endured until now, and could not help but sigh, playing the琴and singing “胡茄十八拍” to express her desolation and grief.

After 蔡文姬 had returned to land of Han, she collected and edited over 400 pages of draft left by her father 蔡邕. Later she married董祀 and stayed with him until death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cai Yan is a real person that you can read about here:  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_Yan
> 
> The image of the painting can be seen here:  
> https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cai_Wenji_at_Long_Corridor.JPG
> 
> You can listen to the instrumental version of the song she composed, played on the 琴, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U6GLWClPLU


End file.
